Encyclopedia of Linguistics

Sample Entry: Switzerland

SWITZERLAND

Switzerland, or more properly the Swiss Confederation, which consists
of 26 cantons (states, provinces), is a small country with an area of only
41,284 square kilometers and a population of 6,873,867 according to the 1990
census. However, it shows features of interest to the student of language
far in excess of its size.

Historically, the Swiss citizenry has spoken four languages: German,
French, and Italian, which are shared with its neighboring countries, and
Romansh (or Rhaeto-romansh), a distinct Romance language, that is, one descended
from Latin and related to French, Italian, Spanish, and others. This linguistic
mix is the result of the processes that have led to the composition of modern
Switzerland. The original confederation was an oath of eternal allegiance
taken between four German-speaking cantons in the mountainous center of the
country in 1291. German had been brought to this area by the Alemannic invaders
who were part of the expansion of Germanic peoples into the old domains of
the Roman Empire from the fifth century on. Following 1291, the confederation
expanded through the addition of more and more cantons, reaching its present
shape only at the beginning of the 19th century. While some of these cantons
were, like the original four, German speaking, those in the west have always
spoken French, while the incorporation of the southern areas brought in Italian
(principally in the canton of Ticino) and Romansh (spoken in the canton of
Grisons). Thus, the linguistic boundaries shown on the map below are in fact
older than the state boundary of Switzerland. Even the increasing Germanization
of the Romansh area is a process that began well before its entry into the
Swiss Confederation.

All four of these languages are defined as "national languages" in
the federal constitution and--since the 1996 revision, when Romansh was added
to the other three--as "official languages" of the confederation. This is
an unusual state of affairs, especially for Europe, and Switzerland has been
cited as a possible model for the European Union with respect to the accommodation
of several official languages.

Although Switzerland is at a national level quadrilingual, it is far
from the case that the four languages are evenly distributed through the
population, or that all areas of Switzerland are multilingual. In practice,
despite much internal migration and the large number of foreigners resident
in Switzerland, most areas of the country are essentially monolingual; each
of the three major languages has its territory in which it functions as the
single language of public life. The Swiss school system aims to provide all
Swiss with some knowledge of a second national language, and while many Swiss
do indeed have impressive linguistic repertoires, this goal is by no means
fully achieved. The following statistics and map show the numerical and geographic
distribution of the country's four languages.

Numbers and percentages of Swiss population who nominated one of the
national languages as their main language in the 1990 census:

The patterns of language use in communication between the language
communities of Switzerland vary widely, with the Italian and Romansh speakers
far more likely to accommodate to their compatriots from the larger communities.
Indeed, English--a popular choice as third school language, and one that
many Swiss would prefer to be taught over a second national language--is
now widely used as a lingua franca. The situation is exacerbated by widespread
apprehension, especially among French-speaking Swiss at the perceived dominant
position of the German-speaking community, and by the existence of diglossia
in the German speaking area.

Diglossia, as originally defined, is the existence side by side within
the same community of two distinct forms of the same language, each with
its own functions. Ferguson's original article on this phenomenon uses German-speaking
Switzerland as one of the canonical examples (see Ferguson). In this area,
Swiss Standard German, which is quite similar but not identical to Standard
German as used in Germany, is used for most written functions and such highly
formal spoken genres as university lectures, while local dialects, known
collectively as Schwyzertüütsch, are used for most spoken purposes. These
dialects are so different from Standard German as to be practically mutually
unintelligible with it. The differences are due primarily to varied phonological
and grammatical histories, but there are also many lexical items peculiar
to the Swiss dialects. The table below presents a few examples of these characteristic
phonological and lexical distinctions:

English

Zurich German

Standard German

newspaper

Zytig

Zeitung

house

Huus

Haus

to take out

uusenee

herausnehmen

let's go home

Gömer häi

Gehen wir nach Hause

listen

lose

zuhören

one, two, three

äis, zwoo, drüü

eins, zwei, drei

four, five

vier, föif

vier, fünf

I was there

I bi dëët gsy

ich war dort

There is widespread reluctance, and in many cases inability, among German-speaking
Swiss to use Standard German easily for spoken purposes, especially informally,
yet Standard German is what many Swiss learn at school.

Historically, too, the French and Italian areas of Switzerland had
local dialects, but the situation in both these areas differs from that found
in German-speaking Switzerland. The local dialects of French belong to the
Franco-provençal group, a family of dialects sharing features with both northern
French (to which Standard French belongs historically) and the Occitan languages
of the south of France. However, to all intents and purposes, these dialects
are now lost in Switzerland, and with the exception of a few very old people,
everyone in the French speaking parts of Switzerland speaks Standard French.
This is not identical, however, with Parisian Standard French, but incorporates
a few older features that have been replaced in Parisian French, as demonstrated
in the table below:

English

Swiss Standard French

Parisian French

he must be helped

il faut lui aider

il faut l'aider

seventy

septante

soixante-dix (sixty plus ten)

eighty

octante

quatre-vingts (four twenties)

ninety

nonante

quatre-vingt-dix (four twenties plus ten)

The local dialects of Italian, which belong with those of northern Italy,
are still spoken, but until recently they had very low standing. Standard
Italian was regarded as the language of prestige, having been widely spoken
and serving as the written norm. In recent decades, however, the Swiss dialects
of Italian have gained in usage and prominence as a mark of local identity.

Romansh has been spoken continuously in the southeast portions of
Switzerland since Roman times. Linguistically, it belongs with other languages
of northern Italy (Ladin, Friulian) and shares features with both northern
Italian dialects and French. Like other languages of Switzerland, particularly
German, it exists as a chain of dialects that have crystallized as five written
standards since the time of the Reformation in the 16th century. Of these
five written forms, those of the upper Rhine valley and the lower Engadine
(the left and right-hand ends of area number 4 on the map) have enjoyed particular
support. However, despite its long history and its official status at both
federal and cantonal levels, Romansh is endangered. A steadily decreasing
proportion of Swiss report Romansh as their first language in the census
held every ten years, and its territory has been shrinking under pressure
from German for many centuries. Virtually all speakers of Romansh are fluent
in German, often in addition to other languages as well. There have been
and continue to be, however, strenuous efforts to ensure the survival of
Romansh.

The precarious state of the language is not helped by the existence
of the five written versions. In 1982, a unified written form of the language
was introduced that now enjoys considerable support and has greatly facilitated
the publication of official materials in Romansh. Even works of literature
are now being written in this standard.

The Lia Rumantscha, with its seat in Chur (the capital of Grisons,
the canton where Romansh is spoken), is the main organization coordinating
and driving the work of language maintenance and language planning for Romansh.
It was founded in 1919 as an umbrella organization for the growing number
of societies and groups founded in the previous century to promote and protect
Romansh. Although not a statutory body, the Lia Rumantscha is financed by
very generous grants from both federal and cantonal governments. Its activities
include translation services, terminology creation and definition, publication,
and language promotion. In those municipalities with a majority of Romansh
speakers, Romansh is used as the language of instruction at junior levels
of school, and is available as a subject at secondary and even tertiary levels
of education.

The linguistic situation in Switzerland is complicated, and is a matter
of intense discussion within the country itself, not least because of the
perception that the linguistic communities of Switzerland do not so much
live together as past one another. Pride in this "diversity in unity," however,
is an important feature of Swiss identity.